Halo 5: Guardians beta starts December 29

It should be a happy new year for Halo 5 fans, as Microsoft announce that the Halo 5 beta will run for three weeks early next year.

To get access to the Halo 5’s beta you have to buy Halo: The Master Chief Collection, which is due out this November. The collection offers HD versions of all four mainline Halo games, as well as a suite of extra features – including access to the Ridley Scott-produced Nightfall.

The beta will start on December 29, 2014 and run all the way to January 18, 2015. Considering the success of the recent Destiny beta it should help to bridge the gap until Halo 5 itself is released later in 2015.

The beta’s gameplay will focus on 4v4 arena battles over seven different maps, with Microsoft promising 60 frames per second gameplay and dedicated servers. You’ll also be able to unlock some special in-game items that you’ll be able to use in the final game.

A short clip of the beta in action was shown at Microsoft’s pre-Gamescom media briefing, as well as a look at the Sanctuary map from Halo 2 and the Delta Halo campaign level.

There still wasn’t much on Halo 5 itself, but also announced for the first time was The Halo Channel for Xbox One and PC. Microsoft were a bit vague on what exactly it is, but it looked like a dashboard style interface used to access both the games and things like Nightfall, as well as community features and a database of franchise lore.